the “sent” church…

April 30, 2008

Sorry for the absence. I’ve been wrapping up my second semester of seminary over the last few weeks. Not much will change over the next couple of weeks because I’ll be working on a term paper for my Theology II class through LTS. So this is a preemptive apology for my potential lack of posting…

All that aside, I’m really excited about the direction I’m headed with my term paper. The title of my paper is:

The main thrust of my paper will be how many churches are rediscovering that mission is at the heart of ministry, and not vice versa. Alan Hirsch says it this way in his book, The Shaping of Things To Come:

We both believe that if we aim at ministry, we seldom get to do much mission. But if we aim at mission, we have to do ministry because ministry is the means by which mission is achieved. The established church has generally got this wrong. Most never get to do real ministry with real outsiders because they aim primarily at the ’saved.’ This we believe is a distortion of authentic New Testament faith and praxis. The church does not exist for itself but for its mission.

In an age where church and ministry exclusively equals an attractional, sit-and-soak weekend service, there is a resurgence within evangelicalism that is recognizing that, as Ed Stetzer said in his recent 4.22.08 blog entry, “New Evangelism Research”:

Believers must resolve to step into their world to share the Good News with them. If we are waiting for them to someday walk into our churches, that someday may never come. We have tried that approach for decades – many church buildings/services are looking great. They have new looks, new music and new strategies. We have gone to great length to fix up the barn, but the wheat is still not harvesting itself. I believe we must move from attractional ‘come and see’ ministry to incarnational ‘go and tell’ and join Jesus in the harvest fields all around us.

I have a short list of books - including Stetzer and Hirsch; but also Fitch, Kimball, Cole, Driscoll, Timmis, etc. - I will be pulling from for the term paper, but I know I haven’t exhausted the whole gamut. Any books, articles, podcasts, vodcasts you think I should peruse, send your thoughts my way!

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